The Hindu Business Line : Essar Steel plans to expand retail network

New Delhi, April 7 To cater to the small-scale sector directly and make more quantities available to such entities, Essar Steel has decided to expand its retail steel network by more than threefold. The company plans to expand its network from the present 80 to 250 by the year-end.

Currently, the company also has three service centres. The retail outlets, known as Essar Steelhypermart, are located in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Punjab, Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, and Kerala.

The Director of Essar Holdings, the parent company of the group steel companies, Mr J. Mehra, said, “Along with the increase in the number of hypermarts, we will also expand the three service centres. This would enable us to push at least one million tonnes of steel annually through these centres. The plan would cover all States including the north-east.”

According to the company, each hypermart would cost in the range of Rs 30-65 lakh depending on the location, Mr Mehra said. The company would offer a comprehensive range of flat steel products for variety of applications. Other lines of products like longs, structural, tubular are also being developed to make Essar Steelhypermart the one-stop shop for steel shopping, the Director, Sales and Marketing, Mr Vikram Amin, said.

To company also proposes to divert around 20-25 per cent of its current year’s proposed exports to the retail market, he added.

In order to support this activity, Essar Steel has reduced its exports by over 25 per cent and sold more quantities in the domestic market. It has sold 2.5 million tonne of HR coils in the domestic market compared to 1.9 million tonne the previous year. The company has also tied up with a Bangalore-based call centre service provider for customer support services like information on stocks, prices, and time of availability.

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